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Sunday, December 31, 2017

Grins and Chagrins

2017 Grins and
Chagrins

USA Eagles v Georgia Lelos: Tbilisi,
11.25.17

…the one that got
away…

Perhaps the
harshest rugby lesson of the year came during Autumn Tests, that period when
Southern Hemisphere nations come north and Western Hemisphere test-XVs head
east. Our men’s team had a pair of matches: the first against a German side,
ranked 23 in the world, which had taken down #15 Romania, and the second versus
the #12-ranked country on World Rugby’s chart, Georgia Lelos.

Eagles looked fine sporting a handful of Glendale Raptors on
the starting squad in Wiesbaden on November 18, claiming a deserved, 46-17,
triumph. The subsequent weekend in the Georgian capital was another affair
entirely.

For down between the Greater and Lesser Caucasuses on the 25th
of the month, the Eagles left the best chance for a rising in World Rugby’s
ranks on the deck through shoddy defensive effort and errant goal-kicks in a
match that was won by Lelos, 21-20. At times, it seemed tackling was a
considered option rather than a fundamental and had MacGinty made one of his
three misses, that’d have made for the win and certain ascendancy on the global
table. Liking Davies at scrumhalf, though; real deal there!

…forward march…

USA Eagles men open the 2018 season with a five weekend,
5-match run squaring off against Argentina
in the first round of the Americas Rugby Championship at the StubHub Center (formerly
Home Depot Center) in Los Angeles (Carson) on Saturday, February 3 – I go, you
go?

Then it’s Canada
in Sacramento 2.10 and host duties of Chile
in Fullerton (CA) on 2.17 before traveling to Brazil (2.24) and Uruguay
(3.3), culminating in (ideally) the Eagles second ARC title in a row.